Beyond Barbarossa is no longer the only podcast focusing on the Eastern Front of World War II. David Sumner, host and producer of the Europe at War podcast, joins to discuss the Battle of the Halbe Pocket.  The Europe at War podcast (https://tr.ee/faCigcYaE5) on all platforms: https://pohttps://tr.ee/faCigcYaE5   David Sumner, podcaster (https://davidsumnerhistory.com/) Map: The Battle of the Halbe Pocket, April 1945   Photos from David Sumner   The Halbe forest, 2025     A defensive hole dug in the floor of the Halbe Forest   A bullet shell with the round still inside it, the outer shell which corroded from being in the ground for eight decades.      The comb David Sumner found in the Halbe Forest   From the Halbe Pocket battle   General Theodor Busse     General Walther Wenke      Arden nazi Ferdinand Shorner  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Russian occupation of Ukraine today is not the first time. Here are some readings that can make it real for today’s listeners.  Map: Ukraine under occupation, 1941–1943 Source: Ukraine, A Historical Atlas by Paul Robert Magosci and Geoffrey J. Matthews Sources Lubomyr Luciuk, The Galicia Division: They Fought for Ukraine. The Kashtan Press, 2023. Scott Bury, Under the Nazi Heel. Ottawa, ON: The Written Word Communications Co., 2016.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

A special episode of Beyond Barbarossa. What happened in Washington DC on 28 February 2025 has echoes of 1938, and ominous omens for the future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In the north and the south, the Red Amy makes great advances in the Eastern Front in February 1944.  Map 1: The Eastern Front, February 1944 Map 2: Popov’s Baltic Front pushes the Germans back to Lake Peipus   Map 3: German forces in the Dnipro Bend, February 1944    Map 4: The European theatre at the end of February 1944.     Map 5: The Pacific theatre    Markian Popov    Nikolai Vatutin   The Chindits in Burma, 1944 Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In January and February 1944, Stalin's "broad front" strategy takes hold and the Red Army gains the momentum in the war on the Eastern Front. Map 1: The Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket    Map 2: The Advance on Narva   Map 3: The Battle of Narva and Lake Peipus What looks like "Hapba" is Cyrillic script for "Narva." The inset shows the southern end of Lake Peipus and the Red Army's temporary  bridgehead on the west side. Map 4: The Panther Line      Map 5: The breakout to Lysyanka    Map 6a: The Eastern Front 15 January 1944   Map 6b: The Eastern Front 15 February 1944     Image 1: Ivan S. Konev, commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front    Image 2: Nikolai Vatutin, commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front   Sources Antony Beevor, The Second World War. London, UK: Little, Brown and Co., 2012.  Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941–1945. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Orest Subtelny, Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988. Anthony Tucker-Jones, Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin's War 1941–1945. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2017.Wikipedia, various pages.         Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

The first two of ten "crushing blows" against the German invaders of the USSR in 1944: Zhitomyr and Leningrad.  Map 1: The Zhitomyr-Berdichiv Offensive    Map 2: Cherkassy or Kherson Pocket     Map 3: Leningrad, 1941–1943 Map 4: Leningrad lifeline     Map 5: Operation Iskra    Map 6: Operation Polar Star    Map 7: Liberation of Leningrad, push to Panther Line  Sources Antony Beevor, The Second World War. London, UK: Little, Brown and Co., 2012.  Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941–1945. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Anna Reid, Leningrad: Tragedy of a City Under Siege, 1941–44. Toronto: Allen Lane Canada, 2011. Anthony Tucker-Jones, Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin's War 1941–1945. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2017. Prit Buttar, Retribution: The Soviet Reconquest of Central Ukraine, 1943. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2019. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What was the USSR doing between September 1939 and June 1941? It was allied with nazi Germany, of course. Historian Roger Moorhouse, author of books including The Devils' Alliance, describes the lasting impact of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and the strategic factors that ended it.  Roger Moorhouse   The Devils' Alliance    Roger Moorhouse's books: https://www.rogermoorhouse.com/books (https://www.rogermoorhouse.com/books)  Map: The division of eastern Europe according to the secret protocols of the pact  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

The nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact of 1939 gave Hitler and the nazis the green light to invade Poland and start World War 2. Two weeks later, Stalin's Red Army joined the nazis in dismembering Poland.  Historian and author Roger Moorhouse has dived deep into this notorious but poorly understood alignment in The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin, 1939–1941. He joins the podcast in a two-part discussion of the importance of the agreement between the 20th century's two bloodiest tyrannies. Roger Moorhouse   The Devils' Alliance   Roger Moorhouse's books: https://www.rogermoorhouse.com/books (https://www.rogermoorhouse.com/books)   The famous  cartoon by David Low   Hitler: "The scum of the earth, I believe?" Stalin: "The bloody assassin of the workers, I presume?" Map: The division of eastern Europe according to the secret protocols of the pact  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Looking for a break in the Christmas season sweetness? Beyond Barbarossa returns you to the Eastern Front in December 1942. Hitler and Stalin's mutual stubbornness collide on the Russian steppe.  For the Germans of the 6th Army, Christmas 1942 was a hungry Yule in the  freezing Cauldron. Map 1: Operation Uranus, November and December 1942  Map 2: Operation Winter Storm: The German relief attempt  Map 3: Operation Winter Storm stalled    Failure: Luftwaffe supplies the trapped 6th Army in the Kessel  Failure: Operation Winter Storm  German soldiers in the Kessel/Cauldron  Red Army soldier writes home, December 1942  By December, the Red Army soldiers' morale was very different from the Germans'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Author Clare Mulley and I discuss her latest book, the story of one of the Allies' most valuable intelligence agents, Elzbieta Zawacka, known as Agent Zo.    Visit Clare Mulley's website (https://claremulley.com/): https://claremulley.com/  Clare Mulley's books:  The Woman Who Saved the Children (https://www.amazon.com/Woman-Who-Saved-Children/dp/B0844RC4Q7/) The Spy Who Loved (https://www.amazon.com/The-Spy-Who-Loved-Clare-Mulley-audiobook/dp/B01HSJNQ4C/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=8thAb&c) The Women Who Flew for Hitler (https://www.amazon.com/Women-Who-Flew-Hitler-Ambition/dp/B074945PHG) Agent Zo: The Untold Story of a Fearless World War II Resistance Fighter (https://www.amazon.com/Agent-Zo-Fearless-Resistance-Fighter/dp/1639367624/)    Map 1: Molotov and Ribbentrop's division of eastern Europe   Map 2: German invasion of Poland, 1 September 1941    Map 3: Soviet invasion of Poland, 17 September 1943  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.